After mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman was removed from office, a new election was called for the London borough. Hot on the heels of contesting the General Election and in record time, AWP managed to secure enough signatures to stand Vanessa Hudson (resident of Tower Hamlets) as the AWP candidate for mayor.

Both election campaigns received some fantastic media coverage and feedback from the general public and, we believe, helped raise the profile of animal welfare and environmental issues.

In terms of votes received, the results of both elections showed significant growth on previous similar elections.

October 2015

In Portugal, André Silva candidate for PAN (Party for People, Animals and Nature) made the headlines when he succeeded in winning the party their first seat in the Portuguese parliament. As PAN’s campaign had gathered pace the party had attracted the largest following on Facebook of any Portuguese political party.

PAN’s victory here followed the their 2011 victory in the Madeiran regional election where Rui Manuel dos Santos Almeida also won the party one seat.

PAN’s latest victory takes the number of elected representatives for animals around the world to a record number of 27.

As November drew to a close the third Animal Politics Foundation Conference took place in Tirana, Albania. Animal Welfare Party delegates joined others from the animal parties of the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Cyprus, Finland and Australia and groups from Israel, France, Serbia and Albania to discuss international animal welfare issues. Topics discussed included free trade treaties, live animal transport, stray animals, the Asian elephant crisis, social media in election campaigning, growing our parties, strengthening our network and international cooperation.

Given the successes above, 2016 looks set to be a busy year for animal welfare politics – both in the UK and around the world.

Follow Animal Welfare Party on facebook and twitter for all our latest updates.

"The Animal Welfare Party puts animal protection high on the political agenda. We offer policies than benefit people, animals and the environment. If you think it's time animals had dedicated representatives in the EU Parliament, please support us today". Vanessa Hudson, Leader, Animal Welfare Party